Morning Links: Shrunken Heads Edition -ARTnews

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, which may soon return its famed display of shrunken heads.

COURTESY PITT RIVERS MUSEUM

Market

This November, New York will be home to the first M.F.A. Fair, which will be devoted entirely to work by M.F.A. students. Run by James Salomon, the fair will include booths by around 60 art schools. [Artnet News]

Here’s ARTnews’s complete coverage of Armory Show week so far, including a report from yesterday’s Spring/Break Art Show opening. Follow along today as ARTnews reports from the opening of the Armory Show in New York. [ARTnews]

The Critics

According to a wide-ranging survey about visual arts journalism by writer Mary Louise Schmuacher, formerly of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Roberta Smith is the most influential critic in the game. [Nieman Reports]

The Brant Foundation is opening in New York with a glitzy Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition, which Martha Schwendener says acts as a meta commentary on the artist’s legacy. “The words in Basquiat’s paintings often point to what it’s like to be turned into a masterpiece, a financial instrument, and a trophy,” she notes. [The New York Times]

ARTnews Executive Editor and critic Andrew Russeth posted his take on the foundation and exhibition last week. Here’s a snippet: “If we’re being honest, there is a kind of perverse joy, a disturbing friction, to be experienced in seeing how the aseptic one-percent-of-the-one-percent surroundings clash with the glorious, manic energy of Basquiat’s work, as well as its insistent, clear-eyed references to political issues and real-world problems.” [ARTnews]

A new profile of the video artist Rachel Rose includes some details for her future plans: she wants to make feature films. “It feels like a natural step for me to develop, especially because I’m so interested in story,” she said. [W]

Artist Leonardo Drew is now represented by Galerie Lelong & Co., which has locations in New York and Paris. [ARTnews]

Here’s a slideshow of some of Leigh Bowery’s best looks. [The Guardian]

Museums

A famed display of shrunken heads at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, may end up being repatriated to Ecuador, though at the moment, it’s set to stay put. [The Art Newspaper]

The collective What, How & For Whom has been chosen to lead the Kunsthalle Wien in Austria. The museum’s previous director left amid a “resurgence of nationalist politics in Austria.” [Artforum]